Lost and Found
by vickyann
Summary: Something is playing with the base computers.


Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me.  
  
Lost and Found  
  
'Receiving SG1's IDC code sir'  
  
'Open the iris.' General Hammond ordered.  
  
'Aye sir.' the Sergeant acknowledged and the metal sheet covering the Stargate spun away to reveal the shimmering blue colours of the wormhole. Waves flickered across the event horizon and the figures of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Major Samantha Carter emerged closely followed by Daniel Jackson and Teal'C. The four members of SG1 stood side by side on the ramp looking content.  
  
'Welcome back SG1.' Hammond greeted them on entering the gate room.  
  
'Why thank you general, it's sure good to be home.' O'Neill remarked in his usual manner.  
  
'Glad to hear it, we'll debrief in 30 minutes.'  
  
'Yes sir.' O'Neill said and headed off with the rest of his team as the wormhole flickered one last time and shut down.  
  
The briefing room was hotter than usual 'air conditioning must be malfunctioning' Carter thought as she tugged lightly on the collar of her black T-shirt. She could see the perspiration on her CO's forehead and Daniel looked very uncomfortable. Teal'C however showed no sign of the heat affecting him. General Hammond dabbed his handkerchief around his face as he wrapped up the briefing. It had been a quiet scouting mission on an uninhabited planet and for once nothing had gone wrong.  
  
'Dismissed,' Hammond said then added. 'Major could you send a maintenance crew to check the air conditioning.'  
  
'Gladly sir.'  
  
'So Carter, gonna turn down the heat in here.' O'Neill commented as he followed her out into the corridor and back to her lab.  
  
'Yes sir.' she said smiling at his humour and reached for a phone.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
'Strange.' Carter said aloud as she hung up the phone after talking to one of the maintenance crew.  
  
'What's up, Sam?' Daniel said as he entered her lab.  
  
'Apparently the air conditioning hasn't been malfunctioning; the temperature gage had been increased.' she replied.  
  
Daniel looked a little surprised. 'What someone did it on purpose?'  
  
'Looks like it, though I don't know why anyone would.'  
  
'Um,' Daniel pondered, tapping his fingers on her desk. 'Let's go ask Jack.'  
  
'You don't think he had anything do with it, do you?' she asked slightly bemused.  
  
'I don't know, but let's ask him anyway.'  
  
'Ok, he said he'd be in the commissary.' She said as she slid out of her seat.  
  
'Great I could use a coffee.'  
  
'Are you suggesting I tampered with the heating?' Jack practically shouted with a mouth full of cake, sending a few crumbs in Daniel's direction.  
  
Wiping his face he said. 'No, we were just wondering if you knew anything about it.'  
  
'Well I don't. Do you really think I'd play a joke like that?'  
  
'Yes sir,' Carter said not meaning to say it aloud. 'Sorry sir.' she added as the colonel tilted his head towards her and a red colour graced her cheeks.  
  
'I didn't.' he repeated just as the base alarms started screaming in their ears. The two officers and archaeologist jumped up quickly forgetting their conversation and ran to the control room causing passing airmen to dodge out of their way.  
  
The control room was a haze of moving bodies; at first Colonel O'Neill could not see what the alarm was for, until his sight rested on the Stargate. The Iris was spinning out of control, opening and closing for no apparent reason. Carter quickly sat down at a computer and began furiously typing away.  
  
'Major,' General Hammond called not too softly. 'What the hell is going on?'  
  
Without looking up she said. 'Someone has tried to lock in the code to open the iris but somehow it's become stuck.'  
  
'Can you fix it?'  
  
'I think so sir,' she said; just as she finished speaking the Iris slowed down and closed shut. Letting out the breath she had been holding she added. 'Yes.'  
  
Turning to Colonel O'Neill, Hammond ordered. 'Find out who did this.'  
  
'Yes sir,' the Colonel replied as he watched his CO stomp back to his office. 'Carter,' he said addressing his 2IC. 'Any ideas who did it.'  
  
'No sir, we'll have to watch the security tapes.' She replied.  
  
'Of course we will.' He muttered not looking forward to the task.  
  
The lights were turned down in the briefing room as O'Neill, Carter, Daniel and Teal'C sat transfixed to the large TV screen.  
  
'Uh-oh.' Daniel said.  
  
'Indeed.' Teal'C responded.  
  
'I'll go get General Hammond.' Daniel said hesitantly and slowly stood up, hoping someone else would jump in and do it instead, but they knew better.  
  
Daniel decided to hold off telling the General what they had seen or rather hadn't seen until they re-joined the others.  
  
'Um,' Daniel started as the General sat down. 'This is the footage taken at the time someone tampered with the iris code. The tape played for a few seconds before Hammond turned to Sg1.  
  
'There's no one there.' He said looking at each of them in turn.  
  
'That's not all General,' Daniel continued. 'This,' he said pressing a button and changing the image on the screen. 'Is from the footage taken at the time we returned from our last mission. The tape showed the four members of SG1 exiting the wormhole.  
  
'Dr Jackson, I don't see your point.'  
  
'Watch the event horizon closer sir.' Carter chipped in. As he did, he saw an unmistakable fluctuation, like someone else stepping through.  
  
'You mean to tell me, that we let an invisible alien through the Stargate and we didn't know about it.'  
  
'Well we couldn't have,' O'Neill stated and they all looked at him. 'It's invisible.' he added meekly.  
  
'Major is there any way we can track it down?' Hammond asked Carter.  
  
'I don't know sir,' she replied. 'It may be susceptible to different forms of energy in which case we could make it visible or it may not.'  
  
'I'm ordering the immediate lock down of this base, I want the alien found and contained. Dismissed.' They nodded and stood up waiting for the General to leave.  
  
'Well kids, let's catch us an invisible alien.'  
  
'Um Jack, how?' Daniel asked.  
  
O'Neill turned to Carter. 'Carter?'  
  
'I'll go over the tapes and base sensor logs; they may be something we missed.'  
  
'Alright, Daniel you help her. Teal'C and I will keep an eye out for anything unusual.'  
  
'Should we not attempt to contact the Tok'Ra?' Teal'C asked.  
  
'No we can't risk letting the alien through the Stargate.' Carter answered and Teal'C bowed his head in acknowledgement. They quickly gathered up their things and headed out; O'Neill and Teal'C retrieved their weapons and started a search of the base, but both knew the likelihood of finding the alien, even with the entire SGC personnel searching.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Major Carter rubbed her forehead in frustration; she had been searching through hundreds of files and found nothing. Everything was how it should be. She rested her elbows on her desk and breathed heavily, at some point in the last hour an ache had developed on her left side and it was starting to annoy her.  
  
'Sam, you ok?' Daniel said handing her a cup of coffee.  
  
'Fine, thanks Daniel.' She said taking the cup from him.  
  
'No luck?' she shook her head. 'Me neither, none of the images from the planet show any sign of inhabitants.'  
  
'There has to be something here,' she said tapping the computer screen as she bought up the image of the gate room from earlier. 'Why can't we see it..That's it.' She cried.  
  
'What?' Daniel asked bemused.  
  
'We just can't see it, but if we change the light spectrum.'  
  
'We might be able too.' Daniel finished. Carter's fingers sped across the keyboard inputting data. The screen darkened and hovering in the middle of the ramp was a bright blue ball. 'Wow, bring up the MALP image of the planet.' Her fingers danced over the keys again to reveal the planet; as she turned the day into night, hundreds of blue energy balls appeared in the sky.  
  
'Colonel,' Carter spoke into her radio. 'There's something you should see in my lab.'  
  
O'Neill and Teal'C arrived within minutes closely followed by General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser.  
  
'You mean you just turned off the lights?' O'Neill asked after Carter's long explanation.  
  
She smiled. 'Yes sir.'  
  
'Then it should not be difficult to find the alien.' Teal'C said.  
  
'No, and I don't think it'll be too far from the gate room.' Dr. Fraiser theorized.  
  
'Oh?' O'Neill said.  
  
'Look,' she said pointing to some readings on the computer screen. 'The temperature of he base was changed to match the temperature of the planet and it tried to access the Stargate.'  
  
'You mean it's trying to go home.' Daniel stepped in.  
  
Fraiser nodded. 'See the difference in its size to the others on the planet? It's probably just a child.'  
  
'So how to we get it back to the planet?' Hammond asked.  
  
'Once we find it sir, we should be able to lead it back. It seems to be able to interact with solid material.' Carter answered him. The ache in her side was spreading by the minute and a tiredness was creeping over her but she wouldn't let it show.  
  
'Ok people let's find it.' General Hammond ordered. They all nodded and Major Carter slid down from her chair. She took a step towards the light controls when a wave of dizziness hit her causing her to stumble, she grabbed on to the desk.  
  
'Sam?' Janet was immediately by her side, supporting her.  
  
'I'm ok.' she said. Dr. Fraiser looked unconvinced but she decided to let it go for now. 'We may as well start in here, Teal'C can you lower the lights?'  
  
'Of course Major Carter.' he responded and dimmed the lights.  
  
'Sam!' Daniel and Janet shouted at the same time. She looked at them and seeing their shocked faces, she turned to the Colonel.  
  
'Carter, your side.' He said pointing at her. She glanced down and jumped. The blue alien had attached its self to her side. She cloud make out little arms and legs clinging to her shirt. She tried to control her breathing as Dr. Fraiser examined the alien.  
  
'How are you feeling?' she asked.  
  
'Tired.' Carter replied.  
  
'Sirs,' Fraiser said addressing Hammond and O'Neill. 'Its colour has significantly faded since it followed SG1 home; I'd guess it needs the energy from the planet or the others of its species. It probably attached itself to Major Carter to use her energy.'  
  
'Like a mum.' O'Neill spurted out and Carter gave him an evil look.  
  
'Can you remove it?' Hammond asked.  
  
'Yes sir, but we should probably wait until we get it into the gate room.'  
  
They prepared their way to the gate room, dimming the lights in all corridors, just in case the baby alien decided to become curious once more and wonder off. Carter's muscles were becoming heavier with each step, just before they reached their destination she felt her foot slip as she lost her balance.  
  
'Whoa there.' O'Neill said as he caught her arm and steadied her; noticing the beads of sweat on her forehead, he kept hold of her and she leaned into his grasp, glad for the support.  
  
Hammond, Teal'C and Daniel dialled up the gate while O'Neill and Fraiser took Carter into the gate room. The gate shimmered into life and they followed the MALP up the ramp. Once they were given the all clear from General Hammond, Fraiser gently teased the alien from Carter's side and watched it drift into the gate. With the weight suddenly removed from her side, Carter's legs finally gave way. O'Neill quickly grabbed her waist and sat her down before she fell.  
  
'Bet ya can't wait to have kids of your own Major.' He said trying not to laugh; she just gave him a look which said, 'you'll regret that later.'  
  
The alien appeared on the other side of the gate, as three pairs of eyes watched it join its family on the other side of the universe.  
  
*The End*  
  
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